


Better Days (Clear Horizons)

by stover



Series: to me, in a different life [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Developing Friendships, F/M, M/M, Non-Massacre AU, POV First Person, Reincarnation, Team as Family, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-10-01 22:35:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20427290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stover/pseuds/stover
Summary: At eight years old, Uzumaki Naruto comes to a startling realization: the voice in his head is not his own—and it knows his name.





	1. Nanami-obaachan

**Author's Note:**

> Meant to be read and understood alongside [Better Days (Vapid Perceptions)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6785518). May contain events previously unexplored, due to the "I'm-Write-On-The-Fly" syndrome, because apparently, my brain thinks an outline is only a suggestion.

Last night, the granny that’s supposed to bring me food died in her sleep. 

I didn’t like her all that much, but I didn’t want her to die. I know she only yelled at me because I wasted food—I don’t like vegetables, except maybe potatoes—and because I’m always hungry. 

I don’t know why I’m always hungry, I just am.

I’m really hungry now. More than normal, since I didnt eat anything today ‘cause Nanami-obaachan is… Nobody here brought me anything to eat. 

I know I’m supposed to get something to eat. That’s what Nanami-obaachan said when she first showed up— _ “I’m here to feed you. And don’t complain about what you get _ — _ beggars can’t be choosers.” _She was tough. She was always yelling and she never smiled, not even when I told her how good her soup was or how great that chicken tasted. She stayed only as long as it took me to eat, and then she was gone. 

But she always remembered me. She never forgot.

I thought at first, because Nanami-obaachan was… gone, that maybe everyone forgot I’m supposed to get something to eat.

But when I knocked on the door of the lady next door, the lady just screamed at me and shut the door. So I knocked on the next door. The guy living there said a bunch of bad words, kicked me, and slammed the door. So I kicked his door and ran all the way down the stairs and down the hall, and then knocked on that door. And then the next one. And the one after that.

And now I’m sitting here, and I’m hungry.

I’m really, really hungry.

And I really, really miss Nanami-obaachan.


	2. Demon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I hear a lot of things.

I hear a lot of things. 

_ Heart attack. Stroke. Aneurysm. _

I hear a lot of things, all about what happened to that granny.

_ Organ failure. Suffocation. Poison. _

I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure you can’t have ten different reasons why you die. You gotta only have one—two, maybe, like if you got stabbed and then, like, something else happened.

_ Chakra draining. Possession. _

There’s one thing I hear a lot, all the time—before even Nanami-obaachan died.

_ Demon. _

I don’t know what that’s supposed to be about, or why that comes up a lot.

But sometimes… I feel like I should.


	3. It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "That's three already. How long will they make us live like this?"

Everyone thinks its my fault.

They don’t say it, but I know they think it’s my fault. 

They didn’t let me see her after she was gone. Didn’t let me go to her funeral. And they don’t give me anything to do except bread. 

I don’t wanna eat their bread. I don’t want anything they give me. 

But I’m hungry, so I eat it anyway, even if it’s old and hard, and makes my stomach feel weird so I can’t sleep. So I gotta open the window, ‘cause the cool air makes me feel better, and also I can close my eyes and pretend I’m someplace else, maybe someplace with Nanami-obaachan, or maybe with my real mom and dad, whoever they are.

On nights like those, I hear them, sometimes, whispering—

_ “It was him. That boy—” _

_ “—how long will they make us live like this?” _

_ “A monster, living in this complex—” _

_ “He killed her—cursed her, like he’ll curse us all—” _

On nights like those, when I hear them whispering, I get mad. And dizzy. 

And then I start to hear other stuff.

_ Not your fault, _ I hear.  _ Not your fault. _

_ That’s right, _ I always think, just as I’m falling asleep.  _ It’s not my fault. I didn’t do anything. I just want to eat. _

On nights like those, when I hear them whispering, when I get mad at what they say, the cool air at night makes me feel lightheaded and sleepy. And I always wake up feeling good, even if I’m hungry, even if everybody keeps saying it’s my fault.

Because deep down, I know it’s not my fault.

That’s what  _ it _ tells me, all the time.


End file.
